The Valkyrie Sisters
by axleonex
Summary: Valkyrie, a member of the Quadrumvirate, has gone missing. Her daughters, five adopted sisters gifted with the powers of Eidolon, go to Brockton Bay with the mission to find her. First time heroes, these five will have to maneuver secretly through the politics of Brockton Bay to find out what happened to Valkyrie, as well as what's causing the escalation of crime within the city.
1. Angela

"Got it ready?"

"Jaja," Gaiana communicated over. "And it only took me two bags of doritos and a klondike bar."

Liliana spoke over the line, "why do you measure time in the amount of snacks you eat?"

"I don't stare at the clock when I tinker. I close my eyes, die inside, and then let my hands do the rest of the work."

Natasha interrupted with a cough, "that's what she said."

"Yuck," Elisha spoke. "Stop being gross. You've turned filthy ever since I showed you anime."

"My degeneracy knows no bounds."

"Focus," Angela yelled over the line. Their minds and thoughts were interlinked across channels from across the city. While all five of them took positions where needed, Angela was going to be the head of the group tonight.

Her hair was a mystic white. It glowed at where the moon's light touched her but also fogged at anyone who starred for too long. There was an aura to her voice, subjecting anyone who heard her speak into a loving trance.

"I just want to save these people, and get out of here quickly. What do you see?"

Her linked sisters were around the parameters of the tenement buildings. None of them carried costumes. Only Angela spotted on a masquerade mask and white cloak to masquerade as an angel.

"There are twenty there," Elisha said. "They're training. Most of them are kids. All of them have bombs in their heads."

Natashas commented, "a few parents with their kids. Also hostaged. There are also two babies in there that have bombs implanted."

"I'd deactivate those first," Gaiana suggested.

"No," Liliana argued. "There are two gang captains in this area. If anyone of them escape, they'll trigger the bombs on their way out. Take them out first, and we'll deactivate the bombs after."

"Break," they all said together.

Setup was established through three steps; disrupt, distract, divide. Disruption was the easiest part. Gaiana was given tinker responsibilities today, so she formed a jammer to deconstruct Bakuda's contact signals and prevent the activation of the bombs within the area.

Distraction would be Elisha and Natasha's role. They often bickered together, but in terms of distraction, they did well to direct attention away from places that mattered. While Natasha used her aura to drug up everyone within the area, Elisha took it upon herself to release a low hummed singing. The singing didn't impact their minds the way the aura did, but it did mute them momentarily, allowing for Gaiana to step in.

She looked like an angel to them. Wings sprouted from her back. Physical, flesh and bone pigeon wings. Her limbs were willowy and her dress breezed tranquilly. She walked across the floor of the building floor in a slow methodical manner.

Oni Lee had already disappeared.

An explosion came out from behind her, destroying the entrance which she entered from. "How did-"

Liliana yelled, "precog 7!"

That was the signal to shift her powers. They all had so many powers to keep track of, they needed to assign them into distinct categories. Angela's eyes shifted to yellow. She could now see five minutes ahead of time.

Oni Lee was about to make a distract and attack maneuver against her. The first explosion was to distract her, in the second attack he was meant to stab and explode at her. With the vision of the future in mind, her hand cocked into Oni Lee's neck, catching him mid-teleportation.

She wanted to kill him on the spot. She had the power to. Like her mom had done in the past, she could drain the fairy right out of him, leaving him dead and herself with additional power to her arsenal.

But she knew better than to kill for vengeance. She and none of her sisters had any qualms about killing people, it was about killing for the justified reasons that mattered more. _Don't kill if it doesn't save someone, don't save someone if they can't be saved. _She doubted Oni Lee could be 'saved.'

Oni Lee was too petty for anyone to filth her hands with. Bakuda could be kept alive if she promised to help the PRT after this was over. But Lung was another debate altogether. She and her four sisters could go on for hours debating about whether it was worth killing him or not. They could never come to an agreement about him. But with them moving into Brockton Bay, the decision might finally come up.

"Neutralize him," Angela's sisters all said together.

The bombs around Oni Lee's torso went out. They disintegrated into powder beneath her power. Angela whispered words at him. The melody of her sound made him fall asleep. She dropped him unconscious.

"Are the two captains here?" Angela asked.

"Yeah," Liliana replied. "Natasha knocked them out. We'll disarm the bombs like we did in other places."

Angela looked around again. Everyone, parents and teenagers alike were asleep. Their heartbeats soft as they slept from the terror that Bakuda had induced onto them. Her sisters walked into the complex quickly. Each of them identical to her in looks and appeal.

"You got Oni Lee," Elisha said with a hand on her shoulder. "Good job, we already did more than the heroes and villains combined."

"Yeah," Angela walked over to the bomb implanted parents. They each had a baby sleeping, grasped in their arms. "Just… How could they let it get this bad?"

"Not everyone is the daughter of Valkyrie," Liliana said from behind. She had a pocket-sized device in her hands. She was flashing the light onto everyone's sleeping heads, permanently neutralizing the bombs. "We have every power in a bottle. If you don't have that, things accumulate when you have to do things the normal way."

Natasha raised a hand high, "also, people with powers are batshit insane. Mom gave us our powers. Triggered people have a shit ton of luggage when they trigger. That baggage plus superpowers is a recipe for disaster."

Angela murmured, "like a mass of black swans…"

Elisha said, "I think that's why mom adopted us. We're twins, one power for a twin gets copied to all the twins. There are five of us, so when she gave us Eidolon's powers, she knew she was creating five Eidolons."

Gaiana said, "nonsense, she gave us these powers because she loves us. And how could she not love us? I'm adorable." She pointed in Liliana's direction, "not you though."

Liliana responded, "do I really have to explain why that statement is asinine?"

Angela said, "I just wish we'd come here sooner. Things have broken apart."

"You always say that," Natasha nearly yawned as she scanned another head bomb. "New York, Cincinnati, Miami. You always wish we were there sooner. There are five of us, we can't be everywhere at once."

"Why not?" Angela said, "I don't understand why mom doesn't let us spread apart. We can cover a lot more ground."

"You remember the vision," Elisha said. "The moment we split up, something goes wrong. Every precog ability we use, the moment we go miles apart, we vanish. We never see how, but if we don't watch each other's backs everything falls apart if we separate."

Angela's shoulders slouched, "I just wish we could do more."

The sound of sirens came. They'd called the PRT, but agreed not to speak with them this time. From what they knew, there were too many spies in the city to truly trust them. "You guys should go," Angela's wings spread out. They morphed into bleak bat-like claws. "I'll lure them away. If Teacher's minions are among them, I don't want them finding out that we're five heroes instead of one."

They nodded in agreement. Angela's sisters escaped in the backway, using minor invisibility abilities to hide their escape. Angela flew out the window, escaping in a spectacular fashion to mark all eyes on her.

Dauntless flew towards her. She paused mid-flight to face him. He asked, "you've been hitting ABB spots all week. Are you a hero, or a villain mercenary?"

Rather than answer, Angela gestured her fingers across her lips, signaling that she was keeping her mouth shut. She clasped her hands together. Her body glowed into a serene light and disappeared into the moonlight in front of him. If they were going to stop Teacher, Coil, and Accord's coalition, the least information they revealed about themselves, the better.


	2. Natasha

Othala was quiet. The whole warehouse was quiet. She stayed docile while Krieg and Valefor finished the business transaction.

"So just a year then?"

Valefor nodded, "We'll brainwash her, keep her quiet. And you can rent out these three until the spring."

Valefor nodded to his other Fallen members. Rosie, a tall girl in Simurgh costume, and Eligos and Grassil, two boys in Behemeth Endbringer styled costumes. All three of them stood in various positions around the area, obediently following Valefor's orders however need be.

Krieg looked over at Othala. He said, "no hard feelings, it's just business. I'll make it look like Bakuda killed you so that Victor can properly marry into a stronger alliance. You were never suited for the E88 anyway."

She stayed quiet. Powerless from Krieg's drugs and Valefor's mastering, she was getting sold off against her will. There was a lot she wanted to tell him, to curse at him and call for help, but every fantasy was trapped within her mind as she couldn't move.

There was a knock at the warehouse entrance. All five of them looked over. With the five-yard radius mostly deserted, none of them expected trespassers.

"Rosie," Valefor ordered.

Without needing to say more, Rosie already began unleashing her shadow embers around her. These small critters startled around the room, dancing outside through the darkness to touch the person on the other side of the door. Victor kicked the door open.

Rather than let the embers touch him, he rushed toward Krieg. Gressil waved his hands at him, lighting Victor on fire. He crashed into the ground next to Krieg, burning in pain. Krieg ordered for Gressil to stop.

When Gressil stopped, Rosie and Valefor mastered him. Rosie's powers worked by giving her body control when her embers touched someone in the dark. Valefor's powers worked by having mind control over whomever he imposed his hypnotic stare into.

With the two of them together, Krieg could ask him, "how did you find out?"

"You bastard," Victor cried out. His heart thumped rapidly as Rosie induced pain inside of his body. Even though Valefore ordered for him to hold still, he still spoke as freely while he could. "You said the Merchants kidnapped her, those bastards don't have the balls!"

Krieg gestured at Valefor. Valefor said, "forget you saw anything tonight. Forget you ever loved your wife. When he tells you she died tomorrow morning, you're going to feel overwhelming relief."

Victor held still. His mind morphed as he processed the command. "It's for the E88," Krieg said aloud. "Believe me, if you were in my position you'd do the same thing. Between Marquis's Teeth and the ABB, we need as many alliances as possible. One of Heartbreaker's daughters are better suited for you. You'll thank me in the long run."

Valefor relayed those exact words to Victor, "you'll thank him in the long run." He didn't need to manipulate his emotions so explicitly, but he figured he owed Krieg a favor. =

After finishing the trance, Valefor nodded to Krieg. "Alright, Gressil, Eligos, Rosei, you three-"

Lightning struck through the roof. The lights went out. Pieces of the rooftop fell, a fire spread. It expanded slowly and methodically for everyone to see. The flame danced gently, giving it a slow-motion effect while it covered the floors. Nothing it touched burned.

The fire was black. Rather than wrap fire onto everything flammable, it spread slowly in a course directed path. It surrounded the walls while blocking off all the exits.

Walking through the black flames from the entrance, a woman in a mask stood out. She wore a long white wavy dress with black stripes across the hips. The wings behind her back came in sets of two, one set angelic, another bat-like. The masquerade mask gave a level of eloquence to her presence.

She pointed to Krieg, "you have until the count of two to let them go."

Rosie's embers already walked towards her. Gressit waved his hands forward but realized the fire powers didn't touch her. "Who the hell are you?" Eligos said aloud.

"I'm a real fucking angel." Her voice came out in a howling screech. All four of them covered their ears as pain as hallucinations overwhelmed their minds. Victor and Othala were unaffected. They could only hear her slow methodical voice. She counted at a pace so slow it seemed the whole world was slowing down.

"O-O-O-N-N-N-E-E-E-"

The world around them was melting. Sounds echoed while their vision shifted and morphed into a liquid-like state. They dropped to their knees in terror as the earth seemingly dissolved.

"T-T-T-W-W-W-W-W-O-"

Their insides practically burned. Their mouths opened to scream but no sound left their lungs. Crippled and terrified, they closed their eyes. It took one more second before they fell to the ground unconscious.

Natasha smiled.

"Talk about overkill," Gaiana said over their mind-link. "You could've at least let them use their powers on you."

"She has a point," Elisha said. "Could you at least pretend to fight like the rest of us? We're supposed to be one hero you know."

"All of you are pussies," Natasha grumbled. "I have the powers of a God, why the hell wouldn't I use them?"

Liliana nonchalantly said, "I think they shat their pants."

"That's their fault, not mine."

"Not really," her four sisters rebutted back.

Natasha walked up to Valefor. She kicked his sides in triumph, savoring the pain of a villain that deserved it. She crouched down and grabbed him by the chin. With his eyes still closed and his mouth murmuring in fear, she said to him, "not so tough now, little biiiitch."

"Natasha," Elisha yelled over their mind-link, "hold on, don't risk-"

Valefor's eyes opened. He uttered a single phrase, "free me."

Natasha's mind went blank. In an instant her vision trap released. He stood up and yelled, "free everyone, and don't move."

She removed her powers from tall of hem, allowing them to return to normal. The rubbed at their heads as they looked up at the girl. Egilos asked, "Christ, how many powers was that?"

Krieg stepped forward and looked down at the girl. She was still while Valefor's trance took root. "Make her join the E88."

"Hell no," Valefor said spitting at the ground. "One Othala to rent three members, that's what I'm here for. A bitch like this'll make perfect Fallen wife material."

Krieg almost argued, but a crashing noise stopped his words. Four figures broke through the warehouse windows. The moment the villains caught glimpses of them, time came to an abrupt stop. Shadows skimmed passed them all while holding still in motionless space.

One by one each of them disappeared. Only Natasha and the two hostages remained in place.

Time warped back to normal. Elisha walked up to Natasha and flicked her on the forehead. "You. Are. A. Dunce."

Natasha blinked. The mind control dispersed and she slapped her own cheeks awake. She rubbed at her eyes and growled, "it wasn't my fault."

"Yes it was," all four of them said together.

"God you're an idiot," Elisha already began tugging at Natasha's hair. "Just because you're superpowered, it doesn't mean you're immortal."

Natasha responded by tugging at Elisha's cheeks, "stop bitching at me. You were on precog duty tonight, you should've fucking warned me!"

"I was using precognition based on what you said you'd do, you didn't say you'd be a nitwit!"

Natasha tugged harder at her cheeks while Elisha still pulled her hair.

Angela yelled, "knock it off! We're lucky they didn't have backup, I read that Valefor would've turned you against us if we were a few minutes later."

The two of them let go of each other. Natasha crossed her arms and turned the other way, refusing to look at any of them. Angela said, "look, Accord arranged this. Me and Liliana are going to going to interrogate Krieg. I blinded Valefor, so Elisha and Gaiana can go drop the Fallen off at the PRT headquarters. Natasha, can you mind wash those two and drop them off somewhere safe?"

Victor and Othala were still quiet. They heard and understood everything, but didn't say anything to the team that had just arrived. Natasha didn't look back when she replied, "giving me the shit work?"

"Yes," Gaiana, Elisha, and Liliana said together. Angela answered, "someone has to do it."

"Fine."

The other four vanished. Natasha back looked over at Victor and Othala. Othala was still tied down, and Victor still couldn't move due to Rosie's powers causing a lack of muscle control in him.

Natasha took the time to bind rope around Victor's arms and legs before healing him. When finished, he brought him over to Othala to sit next to her.

"Leave the E88."

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" Victor snarked. "You might've saved us, but that sure as hell doesn't count for much."

"Your boss literally tried selling your wife, you still okay with that?"

"Krieg betrayed me, not Kaiser."

"And if Kaiser was in on this?" Victor stayed quiet. Natasha turned to his wife, "Othala, are you really going to fucking stay with him after all this?"

"He's my husband," Othala said softly. "I go where he goes. If he leaves, I'll leave. If he stays, I'll stay beside him."

Victor added, "the E88 has given us more than you can understand. We're not giving that up over something Krieg did."

Natasha frowned. She tapped a thumb on Victor's forehead. "Did you know I could brainwash people?"

Othala yelled, "Christ, how many fricking powers do you have?"

"More than you can imagine." Natasha glared into Victor's eyes. "I've lobotomized people before. Turned them into bumbling idiots so that their powers don't hurt people. If I wanted to, I could brainwash you right here and right now. Turn you both into goddamn hippies to get you to leave them."

Victor glared back at her, "you might as well then. Because no way in hell am I turning my back on them."

The two watched each other silently for a full minute. Natasha groaned as she rolled her eyes away from him. "Christ you're stupid. Fine, you wanna stay with the fuckwits who sold you out, be my guest. Just don't forget, I gave you an out. The E88 sold her off like cattle, and you stuck with them despite that. I don't know where your morals are, but they're lower than I thought if fucking over family isn't a deal-breaker to you."

Natasha turned away from them leaving them tied to the pillar in the warehouse. She waited outside with her arms crossed while her sisters finished. Liliana and Angela returned first.

Liliana asked, "did you brainwash them again? Hold on, I should go check on them."

"Not this time," Natasha grumbled, "Like you guys said, slavery is illegal." Her body tilted and she groaned upon saying that.

Angela said, "Accord wants to break apart the E88. He knows that the E88 are only as strong as Kaiser, and thinks there'll be a civil war the moment the chance comes up. It can be contained if he orchestrates it now rather than sooner. Krieg, Hookwolf, and Purity lead potential subgroups that would betray him. Krieg selling off Othala tonight was a way to take power away from Kaiser."

"Ugh," Natasha murmured, "politics. Can't we just… You know?" The made a thumb gesture moving across her neck.

Liliana answered, "no Natasha, murder is illegal too."

"Laws exist to make life harder, don't they?"

"Yes," Liliana said the same time Angela said "no."

Elisha and Gaiana reached the group next. Gaiana made a salute sign at them, "enemy has been neutralized!"

"Miss Militia saw us," Elisha stuffed her hands in her pockets.

"Us?" Angela asked.

Elisha nodded. "Gaiana went invisible as soon as we noticed, but when I talked to her, it was obvious she was pretending she didn't see Gaiana."

Natasha coughed aloud. Elisha yelled, "shut up!"

Natasha raised her hands back, "didn't say nuttin!"

"You were thinking it, shut up!"

Natasha pointed a finger toward her chest, "you just read my mind again, the fuck is wrong with you!?"

"What did Miss Militia say," Angela interrupted, forcing them to focus.

Elisha turned toward her and said, "she just asked if I was playing it safe. If I understood the risks of being on my own."

"And what did you say?"

Elisha shook her head, "I said I did, and that we could always use help when offered. Miss Militia gave me a card with her phone number. She said if I ever needed help, just give her a phone call."

Angela rubbed at her chin. Natasha asked, "You didn't ask about mom?"

"Too risky," Liliana answered. "Us asking, they'll figure out we're her daughters."

Angela said, "we can't trust anyone in the PRT just yet. For now, it's good to keep in contact, but let's still assume she's under Coil's thumb."

They all nodded. Without saying more, the rest of them vanished from plain sight. Gaiana stayed behind longer to ask, "did you mindwipe them?"

"Not this time," Natasha said with a sigh.

"Pussy," Gaiana stuck her tongue out. She went inside to finish the job.


	3. Gaiana

Gaiana filled the room with her loud snorting noises. She turned up to Skidmark and yelled, "who the FUCK do you think my ass belongs to you limp dick mother fucker!" Gaiana stood up and flung her head up backwards before falling to the ground. She raised her arms and yelled, "if I say I'm here for a goddamn mission, you better believe I'm telling the truth you jizz stained biiiitch!"

The other Merchants watched as her hands dropped down. Her eyes closed, and for a moment they wondered if she overdosed. They were quickly proven wrong once she flew up, and ran to the table. She proceeded to snort the remainder of the other Merchant's cocaine.

"Alright bitch," Skidmark groaned. "When I said you have to sample some as a test, I did it to check you weren't a cop. I didn't want you smoking up our whole fucking product."

Gaiana raised a finger to stop him from talking. Her face stayed plastered on the table, sniffing the leftover grains he'd given her. "You think I give a FUCK what you want. I'm here to win. W-I-N. You thought I'd back down from a little dust!?"

Gaiana pulled out a plastic bag from her pocket. It was crystal clear methamphetamine. "I don't just visit from the nose fairy, I AM the nose fairy. Your ghetto ass sprinkles didn't even make my nose bleed. You don't got nothing until you taste my tinker tested grade A PIXIE SHIT."

Gaiana opened the bag and borrowed a needle from another gang member. She proceeded to tie a rag around her arm.

"Gaiana, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" All of her sisters screamed at her through the mind link. Gaiana paid no attention to any of them.

Elisha yelled, "you said this wouldn't happen again!"

Natasha protested, "last time you got that high I had to drag your vomiting ass off the defibrillator!"

Liliana spoke monotoned, "at least use a clean needle."

Angela kept yelling, "why does this keep happening? Focus on the goddamn mission!"

Gaiana ignored them all as her mind relaxed. A wide grin spread across her face as the tinker potent drug overtook her. "Man, I think my mouth just jizzed."

"Gimme some of that!" Squealer took some rock from the bag and passed some to Skidmark to share. Mush only watched in amusement as the three of them tested Gaiana's tinkering skills.

It was a potent product. When Gaiana stepped in to offer her tinkering services they were skeptical. But now it was clear the Merchants wanted her aboard. All three of them spent the rest of the afternoon lounging back while high. After a certain point, Gaiana turned off her mind-link to ignore her nagging sisters. Even Skidmark's high school recruits left after growing tired of their girth.

Two hours passed before their extra member stepped in. She wore a heavy jacket and boots. Her dirty auburn hair was just as scruffy as her dog's fur. Gaiana looked over at Rachel with a half high grin. Rachel scowled at her and rolled her fists up. Gaiana quickly turned away, avoiding a potential confrontation. Rachel spat at the ground, and took her dogs to the upstairs attic of the Merchant warehouse. Not a word was said among any of them.

Gaiana turned to Skidmark and asked, "the fuck was that?"

Squalor answered in a giggled tone. "That's Bitch. She came here once with all of her dogs. Since she's not a cunt, we agreed to protect dem dogs if she protects our base while we're gone." Squealer began laughing hysterically with no one in particular, "She's more like a stray cat than a stray dog!"

"Don't let her hear that!" Skidmark yelled back with a laugh.

Gaiana almost laughed along with them, but decided to get busy instead. She stood up and activated a detoxification power. She shook her legs and limbs to rub off the potency of her own drugs. Sober, she yawned as she walked upstairs to where Bitch was headed.

The warehouse attic was messy, but it was also roomy. There were about two dozen dogs there, ages ranging from a few weeks to a few years. Gaiana noticed that many of them were crippled, with dog tags and medical bandages implying that many of these strays meant to be euthanized.

Rachel glared at the sight of Gaiana, "what the fuck are you doing here!?"

Rachel pointed at Gaiana and ordered her dogs to attack. Gaiana waved her hand and quickly put the trained dogs to sleep. Rachel charged towards her and punched her across the face. "What the fuck did you do to them!?"

"I just put them to sleep."

"You fucking bitch, you think you can put my dogs to sleep!? Wake them the fuck up!"

Gaiana glared directly at Rachel, "only if you don't make them attack me."

Rachel growled at her, she stepped back to give Gaiana space. When Gaiana was released, she waved her hands forward for them to wake. Before they could return to their assault, Rachel ordered them to sit.

Gaiana sat back against the wall. She began counting each of them. "Get the hell out of here," Rachel ordered, "I don't need to watch some jackass looking at my dogs."

Gaiana finished counting the dogs. "Bitch, four of your dogs are dying."

Rachel clenched her fists, "what's that supposed to mean?"

"You got some of these dogs from vets, right? Some of these are dogs that needed life-saving surgery. There's no way they'll live for much longer."

Bitch looked away, "I already know that."

Gaiana stepped forward and petted the dogs, "I can fix them, if you'll let me."

Rachel paused for a moment, but wordlessly nodded permission for her. Gaiana rested a hand on each of them. She cleared the bloodstreams of the more terminal pets, and made sure to painlessly morph their insides into what was healthy for each of them.

"No one else would take these dogs?"

Rachel shook her head, "bastards just left them to die."

Gaiana nodded, "yeah, those bastards."

She finished healing the last pet in the dog crib. They moved more freely now, with more energy than Rachel had ever seen before. A smile fell across her face. Gaiana noticed. "I do good?"

Rachel glanced back at Gaiana, realizing that she was grinning. Rachel rolled her eyes, "yeah, you did good."

Gaiana walked over to Rachel and put a hand on her forehead. Rachel, oddly enough, wasn't upset by this. It almost felt like Gaiana was petting her. "Bitch… You're sick too."

"What?"

"You're brain… What I mean is, have you ever felt like you can't relate to people? Like human people?"

Rachel took a step back, "so what?"

"So… I think you have brain damage. When people trigger, sometimes their neurology gets screwed up to better adjust with their powers. Your mind is jumbled, like it's meant to make you more in sync with dogs instead of people. I think that brain damage stops you from connecting with your inner humanity."

Rachel's eyes furrowed. She hated the idea of that, and yet it made so much sense. Rachel turned away from her. "Whatever."

Rachel knelt down to one of her younger puppies. A blind dog that only recently learned to walk. Gaiana placed a hand on the puppy, curing its blindness. "Rachel, if you'd like, I can fix that brain damage. Make you more normal again."

Rachel fell quiet for a moment. She asked, "will that make me hate my dogs?"

"Not hate, but it will make you less attached to dogs than you are now."

"Then don't do it. I don't need people anyway."

Gaiana knelt next to Rachel, eyeing her closely. When Rachel looked up at her, it wasn't an angry look anymore. It was more like Gaiana was studying her, trying to understand her better through eye contact. "Dogs are better than people anyway, right? So why lose that."

Rachel nodded, agreeing with another person for the first time in her life.

A bomb was exploded downstairs. Rachel jolted up but Gaiana stopped her. "Hold on, just wait here!"

Gaiana said it as an order, physically pushing her palm on her chest to stop her from moving. Gaiana spoke over the mind-link, "what was that?"

"We tried to warn you!" All four of her sisters yelled back.

They all spoke at the same time;

Natasha said, "there needs to be a rule against turning off the link!"

Liliana commented, "we do not cut the link to play with puppies, Gaiana."

Elisha yelled aloud, "if this is another lesbian thing-"

"Shut up!" Gaiana shouted. "Bomb, downstairs. Huwhy?"

"ABB," Angela said over the link. As Angela explained, Bakuda shot grenades at the other Merchant gang members, paralyzing their bodies in a time stasis. Any hope they had of fighting back was gone. Gaiana's drugs had lowered their senses to the point of being defenseless from the onslaught of bombings.

"Bakuda is desperate for more conscripts now. We took out Oni Lee, and no one cares about the Merchants. She's going to take them to her lab, and put bombs in their head to force them to fight for her."

A few teenage gang members, Asian boys with tattoos across their arms, took Skidmark and Squealer by the hair and dragged them to the truck. Bakuda ordered her boys to search the building for more members of the Merchant gang.

The perception of time slowed as Gaiana spoke more calmly with her sisters. "What do I do?"

"Ooooh, now you want our help," Elisha groaned. "Maybe you shouldn't have cut off that link!"

"Guys, I'm serious. We've got four precogs here, can't you guys figure it out?"

"It's pretty obvious," Liliana answered for her. "Save the Merchants."

"But I hate the Merchants," Gaiana murmured, "they're trashy…"

Natasha yelled, "you were literally snorting crack with them a minute!"

"Yeah, but I was just being ironic. They literally do that for fun."

The three of them berated her, but Angela's voice stood out amongst all of them. "Listen to me. Bakuda is about to take the Merchants out of the game permanently. If she gets them all, then all of Merchant territory will fold into the ABB. Bakuda will finally get the people she needs to wedge into the city. If you don't stop them here, Lung comes out on top."

Gaiana thought about Rachel. "Bakuda is planting bombs here, right?"

"Yes," Angela answered.

"She's going to blow up the warehouse, with all of Rachel's dogs too."

"Yes," the four of them answered.

Gaiana asked, "be straight with me. If I go save the Merchants now, are her dogs doomed?"

Only Liliana answered. "If you fight Bakuda, she'll trigger a fire in the warehouse. Bitch would die too. The only way to save Bitch and her pets is to not engage in Bakuda at all."

Gaiana fell quiet. She cut off the mind-link. Time returned to normal as she turned to Rachel, "Bakuda is here. Your dogs are in trouble." Gaiana opened up a small portal at the edge of the room, "if you don't want your dogs to die, we have to escape through here."

XXX

The last or Rachel's dogs made it to a nearby building. It was an abandoned construction site of a large office building. Insulated enough to provide her dogs warmth, with far more room than what Rachel had at the warehouse. Rachel didn't say thank you, she only stayed close to her smaller dogs as they escaped. Gaiana turned on the mind-link again. "So… That happened."

There was no reply. Gaiana asked, "do I still have time to save the Merchants?"

"No," Angela yelled. "Of course you fucking don't. I'm watching them right now, the bombs are already in them. Next time we face her, she's going to start using people as kamikaze weapons. She'll throw people at you like it's a goddamn carnival game. All because you couldn't-"

"Shut up," Gaiana yelled. "I don't regret this. No way in hell was I going to save the Merchants over these dogs!"

Rachel heard Gaiana say that, but stayed quiet. Angela said, "I was going to say, all because you turned off your mind-link to screw around."

Gaiana crossed her arms. She couldn't deny that. They never really established rules for when the mind link could be turned off. Being in Brockton Bay was the first time they'd truly tried being heroes. Before Brockton Bay, they had all wordlessly agreed that it was alright to turn off their mind-link anytime for the sake of privacy. Angela let out an audible sigh over the link, "just be honest with me. After everything I just told you, about the stakes getting worse… Do you think it was worth it?"

Gaiana looked over at Rachel. She looked at ease, more at ease with her dogs than she had ever been before. "Yeah, it was worth it."


	4. Elisha

Elisha sat at the park swing by herself. She wondered what swinging as a child would've felt like. She and her sisters were raised in Siberia, a place with no swings or cities whatsoever. When Valkyrie had found them at five years old, they were orphaned. Having just lost their grandmother in a parahuman raid, Valkyrie opted to take all five of them to America to raise them safely.

It was odd how much time Valkyrie could give to them. She was almost always gone in the daytime but also always there to kiss their foreheads goodnight each night. She'd hug them constantly, with an embrace filled with warmth and uncertainty the same way a loving single mother would.

The days were mostly filled with the five of them giving each other company. Having a mom like Valkyrie was both a burden and a blessing. Elisha missed her mom most. The others often treated her more like a babysitter than mom, but Elisha knew better.

Elisha knew that they weren't just commodities in the eyes of Ciara. A five for one package deal to give the Eidolon fairy to. They were her daughters. And she would love her just as much as she loved them.

Miss Militia came by. Elisha looked up with her masquerade mask. She didn't have her costume on, but she wasn't worried about hiding her identity anymore. "Hi," Elisha said.

Miss Militia nodded. "I didn't bring anyone with me."

"Neither did I," Elisha replied, knowing full well that her statement was as much a statement as a reciprocated question.

Miss Militia asked, "just who are you? And what brings you to Brockton Bay?"

Elisha looked off to the side, "not for the sights, I'll tell you that much. I've seen a lot of cities while traveling, Brockton Bay doesn't have a lot that's special to it."

She was ranting now. She often hid her emotions from her sisters, trying to act like the adult role model to them all. She often found herself opening up to strangers more than to her own family. Miss Militia said, "but we still need to know, who's side are you on? You're obviously against the ABB, but what's the end goal? Am I going to be against you after Lung is stopped?"

"I can't promise that would never happen. Even if I were 100% hero right now, we could still end up on opposing sides. I've seen how the PRT works."

Miss Militia couldn't disagree. She took a seat on the swing set next to her. "Then maybe we can work out a deal. You help me now, and I'll at least be your ally in the meantime?"

Elisha nodded, "that's what I'm hoping for. The truth is, I came to this city to look for people. Special people. I'm scared of what'll happen if we don't find them."

Elisha pulled out a photo of two people. One picture was of a pre-teen girl, dark haired and skinny. It was a photo of her and her family, smiling at the camera. "Dinah Alcott. A few months ago we were in contact with her after she triggered with thinker powers. She spoke to us through online messaging because she was scared. She said we… I was the only one who could watch over her to make sure nothing bad would happen. I made a promise to help her if anything ever went wrong. And then one day… She disappeared. Stopped messaging me, and all I could do was assume the worst."

Elisha pulled out another picture. This picture was of a blonde, teenage girl. It was a class photo of a prestigious high school outside of the city. "Sara Livsey ran away from home a year ago. Before Dinah cut contact with me, she left me a photo with an email saying 'find her.' After speaking with the school and her parents, I found a trail that brought her here."

"What was the trail?"

"Sarah Livsey changed her name to Lisa Wilbourn, and then disappeared. I found some evidence that she was robbing money from a few rich people to survive, but the trail runs cold a year ago."

Miss Militia took a look at both photos. She didn't recognize either of them, "you haven't run this with law enforcement at all?"

"I've checked the records using… Methods. Lisa Wilbourn's name doesn't exist. And Dinah's death has been filed as deceased from Bakuda's bombing campaign last week, but no body has been confirmed hers'. Right now we don't have any leads to where they are, and I think you're the only one in the Protectorate that can help me."

Miss Militia nodded, "I'll run this by-"

"No."

"No?"

"Miss Militia, believe me when I say this, not everyone in the Protectorate is safe. There are compromised heroes in your organization, I'm not sure who but I only know that you're not one of them." Miss MIlitia's fairy danced above her head, giving Elisha a perfect display of Miss Militia's personality. "Yeah, I'd like for you to use PRT resources to your advantage, but your teammates aren't all trustworthy. You'll have to take my word on that."

Miss Militia wasn't sure if she could, but it wouldn't hurt to delay asking for help. As much as she would've liked to run this by Armsmaster or Dragon, she could do her own personal investigation in the meantime. "Alright, I'll take your word on this."

Elisha kicked her feet back and forth, "you're from Armenia?"

She raised an eyebrow, "that's… Very close, what made you ask?"

"You have that allure. It feels like we're both cut from the same cloth. Adopted at a young age, learned to love our new lives." Elisha swung herself back and forth, letting the momentum take pace. She really missed her mom. Despite having four sisters, things felt more alone than it ever had been. They'd never been on their own before, and it was becoming plainly obvious that they didn't work well as a team.

What if Heartbreaker stole one of them, the same way Valefor almost took Natasha? What if she lost one of them through Bakuda's kamikaze bombings? It was like what Angela had said before, they can't be everywhere at once. Having Ciara watch over them was like having an untouchable angel stretch its wings over all of them, shielding them from anything that could hurt them.

Now that angel was gone. They only had each other. And despite the power they all shared, she still worried it wasn't enough for the real world. Elisha said, "I'm just trying to survive now, but I don't think just surviving is going to be enough. I have powers, and I need to use them for something. I'm just not sure how to use them right. And that's what scares me. Me using my powers in the wrong ways."

She looked down at Miss Militia's gun. The way Miss Militia presented herself was so admirable. Her superpower was to summon lethal weapons, and yet she was an inspiration to so many.

Miss Militia had to notice her staring. She raised it up and placed the barrel in her palm. She leaned it towards her. "Want to hold it?"

Elisha took the gun. Her arm shook. Like a thick shock, her fingers let go and the barrel dropped it to the ground. A flash of images passed through her vision. A village in chaos. Armed men overrunning the people. Bombs going off, and Hana holding up the same gun to a stranger across from her.

Miss Militia transported the gun back into her palm. "Too much?" Miss militia asked.

Elisha looked at her with eyes widened, "it's alive."

"So I've been told."

"No, I mean, you're… You saw the fairies?"

"Fairies?"

Angela spoke over the mind-link, "Elisha, get back here now!" Angela's voice was hard. And why wouldn't it be? Elisha had met with Miss Militia behind her back.

"I gotta go," Elisha paced away from Miss Militia. "We'll stay in touch!"

As soon as Elisha left Miss Militia's view, she teleported to Angela's side. Angela glared at her with her fists clenched, but she didn't say anything. "Listen," Elisha wanted to explain herself, "I did it because-"

"I don't care," she interrupted. "That's not important right now. Liliana went missing."

Elisha's jaw dropped, "what?"

"Her mind link got cut off. She likes disconnecting to meditate, but this time she's not letting us reach back to her. She's said that if she doesn't answer back in 30 minutes, we should panic. It's been an hour."

Elisha swallowed."What should we do?"

"Gaiana and Natasha already spread out to look for her, and now you can too since you're not busy anymore." Angela tapped her forehead, putting her back on the link wave with the remaining sisters.

"About time," Natasha said over the mind link. "What took so long?"

Gaiana commented over the line, "she was probably masturbating. Blocking the linkup is the same as locking the door so no one can hear you."

Elisha yelled, "Jesus Christ Gaiana, shut the hell up!"

"Not now," Angela ordered. "Point her to where you guys haven't searched yet, the more ground we cover, the better."

Elisha's clothes morphed back into their classic angelic styled uniform. She went invisible and took to the skies. Natasha said over the line, "seriously though, don't block us again. I'm scared as fuck that something happened to Liliana, I don't need to worry about you too."

"Fine, whatever."

The four of them searched over the skies for a few hours. The way their powers worked was that they could activate up to 5 powers at once, but each power became weaker in order of power that came last. So while they technically could use five powers, their primary power that they activated first would always be the strongest.

With each power they used, it would also be divided among the five of them. It would leak across their bodies, and they'd have subtle usage of powers across all of them. Three primary power, two secondary powers, primary powers strongest, yet still also spread out among the five of them.

This was why they had to regularly coordinate the sharing of powers. If they all focused on the same power at the same time, the strength could be phenomenal. But if they didn't coordinate together, then they might use a power to hinder one another instead of helping. This was why they opted to be a team of one instead of a team of five.

With one person always riding the helm, they could carefully watch one another's back through safer coordination. Even outside of combat, they would often switch to tinker mode and make sure one of them had tinker strength set up to highest so that no time with their powers was ever wasted.

Elisha looked down at the street level. Her clairvoyance allowed her to see people of her unique blood type. She could narrow down her search by tracking down her own family quicker. At the bottom of a distant fire escape, Liliana was passed out. Knocked cold as though she'd fallen from the top of the building.

Elisha flew down to reach for her, "Liliana, what happened?"

Liliana's eyes opened. She looked over Elisha's shoulder, "her."

Elisha looked back. A pipe met Elisha's face. She passed out.


	5. Liliana

Trigger Warning: Themes of suicide in this chapter

XXX

There was a time where Liliana and her sisters were identical in every way. It was cute, and Liliana liked it better that way. There wasn't any distinction between any of them and Liliana always felt more connected back then. But somewhere along the line they all changed.

Like everyone except Liliana wanted to go their separate ways. Growing up was hard enough as is, but in her mind, she'd lost her sisters in the process.

Angela was the first to go her own way. She dyed her hair yellow after watching a celebrity on television. She was so enamored with musical bands, she wanted to stick out among the five of them. Natasha followed suit. She dyed her hair red, and Gaiana took it a step further to turn her's green. Elisha dyed her hair blue just to annoy Natasha, and Liliana was the only one who kept her hair black.

She didn't like any of them anymore. They were all strangers now, and some days Liliana dreamed of abandoning them all. She didn't love her mom anymore, and the five fo them together felt more like mosh pit than a family.

Liliana was sitting on the ledge of a high rise building eating her lunch. Her times alone were the only things she'd look forward to in her days. Anything to get away from people. At the very least, she could enjoy her home-cooked meals.

She forked up another kebob. Her smile was calm while savoring the taste. Looking up at the clouds, she took a deep breath while the breeze ran across her skin. Her shoulders relaxed from simply being there, from being able to get away from everything else.

A girl took her attention from her. She had a small stature, similar to her own. Frizzy brown hair with freckles across her face, she took a step up at the ledge of the building and looked down.

Liliana looked over. The girl hadn't noticed her yet.

The freckled girl looked on for several minutes, and it was obvious she didn't have the will to step off.

Liliana said, "if you take too long you'll change your mind.."

She gasped and nearly tripped off before turning to Liliana. "Don't come closer!" She yelled, "You can't stop me, I've already decided!"

Liliana shook her head, "I wasn't going to stop you. I was just going to tell you how to do it right."

The girl raised an eyebrow. She stayed still as Liliana took a seat closer to her. "If you fall, make sure you lean head first. We're not actually that high, and it would hurt if you survived this. Also, if you could do me the favor, land near the bushes. A bloodstain on the pavement would ruin the view from up here. This is my favorite eating spot, so I'd hate to have to think about your body every time I came back up here."

The girl stayed quiet. She looked at Liliana like she wasn't a person, but also didn't have a word to say to her either. Liliana patted the seta next to her and said, "sit? If you're going to jump, it won't hurt to talk before you do."

The freckled girl looked down at the pavement, and then back to Liliana. Liliana's face was calm and soft. The look in her eyes was of indifference, like her committing suicide would have no impact on Liliana's day.

She sat down and stayed quiet.

"What's your name?"

"Amelia," she said softly.

"Amelia…." Liliana looked forward to avoid contact. "What brought you up here?"

Amelia clutched at her knees. "A lot of things… Things I just want to… Stay away from."

"Same."

She looked over at Liliana. Liliana wasn't smiling or sad, she was just distant. Reminiscing on things Amelia couldn't understand. Amelia continued, "my… dad, told me things. Things that make me hate myself. Like I thought I knew what I wanted to be my whole life, but now it's like… I can't breathe."

"Can't breathe how?"

Amelia had a lot to say. Could she trust a complete stranger? "My dad is a monster. He's hurt a lot of people. I thought I could trust him, I thought he loved me. But now I don't know, I just want to… Get away."

Liliana asked, "you wanting to jump then, is that to get back at him? Or just your way of killing something a monster created?"

"Yeah," Amy said quietly. There was a lot more she wanted to say, but she knew the stranger wouldn't understand.

"You could just abandon him if you wanted to. You don't have to be tied to family."

"I wish it were that easy."

"Why can't it be?" Liliana with a sterner voice. "You don't need him. No one needs family, and it's gross that people would force a relationships strictly because of blood. If someone is toxic to your life, just cut them off to make your life better."

"But I can't just do that."

"Why not?" Liliana turned to her, "we could both leave our families. They wouldn't miss us."

Amelia's head cocked back. Liliana looked away and said, "I mean… If your problem is your dad, I don't think you deserve to get hurt for being born to him. You're not physically connected to him. You're your own person. It's not smart killing yourself just to spite him. Why don't you try… Being better to be distinct from him?"

Amelia's eyes fell low as she looked down. She never wanted to jump, she just wanted to know if she had reason enough to try. She asked, "like, being better to make amends for him? I tried that, and it's not enough. That's why I came up here." Her eyes watered slightly. She recalled the people she was healing at the hospital, good people that her father had sent to the ER.

"No," Liliana said with her hands clenched. "That's still being connected to him. Being anything for the sake of spite or being different is still tying yourself to him. Be something better, but for yourself, not for him. Get him out of your life, and be a separate person."

She shook her head, "that's not an option for me."

"Why not?"

"It's just not. Trust me on that."

The two of them became quiet. They looked forward for a long while unable to say anything more. Liliana swung her feet forward and stood up. "Then you should jump."

Amelia's eyes widened, "what?"

"You're going to be stuck anyway. If you're not going to change your life, you might as well jump instead of being miserable."

A sore caught Amelia's throat. "I thought you were trying to stop me."

Liliana shook her head, "I wanted to help you, not stop you. If you're too scared to cut him off, then you're better off dead than alive."

Amelia's eyes widened. Liliana raised with her leg out over the ledge. Her body balanced as she tiptoed with her other foot. She was posed up like a ballerina. Half her body weight on the roof, the other half extending out over the high rise ground.

"I come here to eat every day because I like thinking about how easy it is to jump, but having the power not to. There are a lot of things I hate about this world, but at the very least, I chose my own life. You can't even say that."

Liliana stepped back on and raised Amelia up by the hand. "So if you're not going to choose a life you need, end it right now. And jump off."

Liliana gave her a gentle push away. She almost dropped over the roof, but Liliana pulled her back by the arm. Amelia's body tilted outward from the roof giving her a perfect view of the pavement in the ground. "If you want it to end, your answer is right down there. You don't have a lot to go back to. If your father doesn't deserve a daughter, then hurt him by killing yourself."

Liliana pulled Amelia back. Amelia was shoved into the ground and looked up at Liliana staring coldly at her. "If you think you're nothing more than an ornament to his life, then you really don't deserve to live. So stop breathing our air, and kill yourself so the rest of us can live our own lives."

Liliana walked off the ledge and headed towards the roof exit. She left Amelia alone, worse off than she was before.

XXX

Liliana walked down the fire escape of the building. She headed toward the entrance side and looked up at Amelia. This time she was closer to the ledge. Whereas before she had never planned to jump, Liliana had pushed her closer into making a worse decision.

When Ciara had disappeared, Liliana was almost happy. She thought she'd have the chance to rekindle the relationship she once had with her own sisters. But as time went on, it was becoming glaringly obvious that her sisters had become strangers to her.

She wished Ciara never adopted them. Then maybe they could've still been together just like when they were kids. Ciara told them that it was their job to be the beacon of light in people's lives. But Liliana hated that idea, because Ciara had forced a life onto them.

"We're not heroes," Liliana said glaring up. "You made us this way, but we were never supposed to be that."

It was at that moment Liliana knew why she told Amelia those things. Just as her sisters tried being different people from one another, Liliana was desperate to spite what Ciara wanted from them. To be something separate, wicked, instead of a projected image of what their adopted mother wanted them to be.

And it was at that moment she'd felt shame. The same way her siblings had worked hard to distance themselves from each other, Liliana said some terrible things just to sever herself from Ciara. It accomplished nothing, and only proved how petty Liliana had become.

Amelia jumped, and Liliana jumped as well. She morphed into her angelic form, with a black gown and silver wings. The mask morphed over her face and she caught Amelia just in time before hitting the surface. Her body disappeared and so did Amelia, the two of them found themselves at the top of the rooftop.

This time Amelia panicked at the sight of her. She backed away before falling to the ground. "What was that?" She yelled.

Liliana's instinct was to erase her memories. In a melody like tone, she said to her, "you're special, and not because you're parahuman."

Liliana crouched down to her and touched her forehead. She would wake up in a few hours, and made sure to call the PRT to find her for before waking up. They weren't perfect, but they took the mental health of members very seriously, and would very likely help Amelia.

Liliana teleported back to the side of the building. She morphed back to her normal form before someone hit her across the head. Looking over, a person in a skii mask had a pipe in hand.

Liliana tried firing her powers on her, but it failed her. The attacker hit her more times while Liliana tried calling forth her powers. "What?" She called out in panic. It was the first time in her life her abilities had failed her, and it was the first time she wanted a family member to save her.

"How are you-"

She was hit across the cheek before getting knocked out. Taylor called on the phone, "alright, we have her now."


End file.
